She has become a bridge for the older music she adores, from Chet Baker to Carole King to Ravel, by offering her bold interpretation to a younger crop of listeners who have become deeply connected over time. This was all by design, Laufey’s self-assigned raison d’être and it worked, allowing her to bring to life the whimsical universe known as “Laufey Land.”

Raised between Reykjavik and Washington, D.C, she learned piano and cello as a child, later studying at Berklee College of Music. There, she wrote her debut EP, 2021’s ‘Typical of Me’, whose striking single “Street by Street” debuted at No. 1 on Icelandic Radio—the first of many achievements that have grown to include 5 billion global streams, a social media audience of 25 million, the biggest jazz LP debut in Spotify history, a growing pile of Platinum plaques, a Forbes 30 Under 30 designation, and being named one of TIME’s 2025 Women of the Year.